1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a control apparatus of an air conditioning system in a vehicle, more specifically, to a door control apparatus of the air conditioning system which controls an actuator by means of data communication by networking an amplifier unit of an air conditioner and the actuator for opening and closing of a door.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventionally in an air conditioning system for an automobile, a driving control device (an amplifier unit of an air conditioner) and actuators provided correspondingly to a plurality of doors (for example, valves) and for adjusting respective divergence of the plurality of doors which are for controlling air flow flowing in an air passage within the air conditioning system and provided in that air passage, are connected by an interface (harness), and the doors are opened and closed by actuation of the actuators by sending an electrical signal from the amplifier unit of the air conditioner through the harness to desired actuator.
Namely, as shown in FIG. 2A for example, a control apparatus (door control apparatus) of an air conditioning system 100 is provided with various actuators such as an actuator of a mix door for opening and closing an air mix door 40, a mode actuator for opening and closing a door for switching over modes 50 and a Fresh/Re-circulating intake actuator for opening and closing a door for switching over Fresh/Re-circulating intake 60, a driving control device (an amplifier unit of an air conditioner) 10 which individually drives and controls each of those actuators, and an interface (harness assembly, harness with connectors) 20 which connects the amplifier unit of the air conditioner 10 and each of the actuators 40, 50 and 60.
Here, each of the actuators 40, 50 and 60 has electrical circuits 43, 53 and 63 which are including motors or the like inside of them respectively, and are provided with connectors 41, 51 and 61 for connecting these electrical circuits 43, 53 and 63 which are located inside to the harness assembly 20.
Also, the amplifier unit of the air conditioner 10 is provided with a microcomputer 11 for carrying out computation in accordance with predetermined program for control by receiving an input signal from external sensors and switches or the like which are not shown and by receiving electrical power from an electrical power supply, driver ICs 13, 14 and 15 which are provided corresponding to each of the actuators 40, 50 and 60 and are for individually supplying the electrical power to each of the actuators 40, 50 and 60 according to result of the computation of the microcomputer 11, and a connector 12 which is used to be connected to the harness assembly 20.
The harness assembly 20 has an amplifier side connector 21 connected to the amplifier unit of the air conditioner 10 on one end side of the harness, and actuator side connectors 22, 23 and 24 connected to each of the actuators 40, 50 and 60 on the other end side.
In the door control apparatus structured as above, each of the driver ICs 13, 14 and 15 is mutually connected (parallel communication) to the respective actuators 40, 50 and 60 respectively via the harness assembly 20, and each of the driver ICs 13, 14 and 15 only outputs the electrical power to the actuator connected to each of them, thereby the actuators are driven.
By the way, recently in the above described door control apparatus, it has been proposed that doors are controlled to be opened and closed by means of data communication utilizing network by networking the amplifier unit of the air conditioner and the actuators which are for driving the doors in the air passage to be opened and closed (Japanese Patent Laid Open No. H10-6748).
As shown in FIG. 2B, this networked control apparatus (door control apparatus) 100 is provided with various actuators such as an actuator of air mix door 70, a mode actuator 80 and a Fresh/Re-circulating intake actuator 90, a driving control device (amplifier unit of an air conditioner) 16 and an interface (harness assembly) 30. Each of the actuators 70, 80 and 90 has exclusive ICs 72, 82 and 92 which are used exclusively for data communication other than electrical circuits 73, 83 and 93 which are including motors or the like inside of them respectively, and the amplifier unit of the air conditioner 16 is structured to have only a microcomputer 17 and is not equipped with driver ICs.
In addition, an amplifier side connector 31 of the harness assembly 30 is connected to a connector 18 of the amplifier unit of the air conditioner 16, and actuator side connectors 32, 33 and 34 are connected to connectors 71, 81 and 91 of the respective actuators 70, 80 and 90.
In this networked door control apparatus as described above, each of the plurality of actuators 70, 80 and 90 is connected to the amplifier unit of the air conditioner 16 without transiting the driver ICs, and the amplifier unit of the air conditioner 16 simultaneously outputs an electric signal which drives and controls the respective actuators 70, 80 and 90 and a selection signal for specifying only the certain actuator to be driven. Additionally, the exclusive ICs 72, 82 and 92 which are used exclusively for the data communication provided inside of the respective actuators 70, 80 and 90 receive the selection signal, and if the selection signal is a selection signal specifying the corresponding actuator corresponds to each of the exclusive ICs 72, 82 and 92, that exclusive IC outputs the electric signal to the connected actuator, thereby the door is structured to be opened and closed by the actuation of the actuator. More specifically, a plurality of actuators is controlled by a serial communication using the selection signal.
Meanwhile, between the networked door control apparatus (FIG. 2B) and the traditional non-networked door control apparatus (FIG. 2A), not only the amplifier unit of the air conditioner and the harness assembly differ but also each of the actuators differ.
Accordingly, in a certain type of automobile for example, when both of the one which is networked and does data communication (hereinafter referred to as “with data communication”) and the one which is non-networked and does not do the data communication (hereinafter referred to as “without data communication”) are set, and either of them is to be alternatively selected according to grade of that type of automobile or with or without of options or the like, it is necessary to prepare components corresponded to the one with data communication and components corresponded to the one without data communication respectively, as a result, there have been problems that it is troublesome to manage the various kinds of those components as well as lowering in production cost by mass production becomes less.